Make Your Words Sweet, Because…

“A wholesome tongue is a tree of life: but perverseness therein is a breach in the spirit.”  Proverbs 15:4

Whatever happened to the English language?  When I watch television shows and movies that are set in a time long past, the dialogue is proper and direct to the point.  There is no slang or “like, you know” and not a lot of “uhh”.  I am not one who has an extended and deep vocabulary, but I enjoy learning words and including them in my writing and when I converse with people.  When I refer to the Matthew Henry Bible Commentary in my Bible studies, I have to have a dictionary nearby.  His work was published over 300 years ago, and those words that I have to look up are common words that have lost their place in today’s language.  A few examples are “anathema” (a curse), insipid (lifeless), sagacity (keen perception), and felicity (happiness).  We can get along fine without learning new words, but it’s nice to broaden our horizons.

King Solomon, the writer of Proverbs, is not so concerned whether we have huge vocabularies or not.  He is not concerned about the words that we don’t know, but the ones we use, as in vulgarity, gossip, backbiting, criticism, and complaining.  He says a wholesome tongue, that is, speech that emits soundness of body and mind, is a tree of life, but hurtful, disparaging words create an atmosphere of tension, mistrust, and sometimes hate.  Let me give you an example of the latter.  Have you ever been in a workplace where the boss severely scolds an employee in front of other employees using some rather salty and belittling language?  The tension can be “cut with a knife”, and a “breach” or interruption of the peaceful spirit among the folks who were subjected to this unfortunate outburst is made evident.  As the old saying goes, “You had better make your words sweet, because you might just have to eat them.”  On the flip side, one who carefully weighs his or her words and makes a conscientious effort to speak words of encouragement brings a peaceful atmosphere that lifts the spirits of folks.

I have notice over the last few years that vulgar terms are so commonplace now that one hears them just about everywhere and especially on television and in the movies.  Some folks can’t seem to speak without cursing.  Years ago, men didn’t curse in front of women, but now women curse about as much as men do.  I don’t get it.  What do folks benefit from using four-letter, vulgar terms consistently?  This type of speech to me is, as my husband used to say, “rude, crude, and grossly unattractive”.  There was a fad several years ago, WWJD, What Would Jesus Do?”  I don’t think He would be using vulgarity.  I would imagine that He gets tired of hearing it too, especially from His brothers and sisters, those for whom He died.

Do you want to hear something weird?  As I was typing this blog, one of the letters on my keyboard got stuck and was entering about every other letter as I typed.  Would you believe it was the letter “F”?  There have been other occasions when I was typing a blog concerning our life in Christ and our need to resist the devil, and my keyboard would stop working or just start giving me trouble.  I don’t think that these occurrences are coincidental.  The devil is always on the prowl seeking to disrupt anyone who tries to spread the good news of Jesus Christ.  We just have to always be on guard and aware of Satan’s deceitful tricks.

Maybe those who curse will get tired of using vulgarity and substitute more pleasant words to express themselves, but I don’t hold out much hope that they will.  Even so, it’s a worthy goal.